What should I do with my MF's...

Supergus1

Supergus1

New member
Joined
Nov 29, 2012
Messages
175
Reaction score
0
When I do any detailing on my truck, I rarely use more than 4-5 MF's plus one or two MF applicator pads (still working by hand). I never have enough dirty towels to do even a small laundry wash. I didn't want any polish or wax residue to dry on the MF's so I tossed them in a small bucket of D114 that I had used for door jambs and wheels (with grit guard), until I accumulated enough to do a load. Is this OK or is there something different that I should do? Thanks- 'Gus
 
That's almost the same thing i do and i've never had any problems. I still have some very old MF towels that i still use.

I actually mix up a bucket of water and a small amount of Tide Free and keep it covered in the garage before i start a job. As i go through towels during the work and retire each one to the wash, i drop them in the bucket to soak until i finish. I go through a s***load of towels for each job. After i'm done i wring them out real good and drop them in a fresh water rinse bucket, cover it and leave them usually overnight. I wring them out, let them dry and then toss them in a large plastic bin with cover labeled Dirty MF. After i accumulate enough to wash i wash them normally.
 
I don't see any issues with letting them soak unless they begin to sour while sitting in the solution for an extended period of time.(I found this out the hard way by keeping them sealed in empty buckets or mixture of solution too long!)

I keep used microfibers in cloth laundry bags, so if there's any moisture they can still dry naturally until the wash.

If there's excessive soiling in the microfibers, I will soak them in a mixture of Micro-Restore (or detergent of choice) overnight prior to wash.
 
Supergus1 said:
When I do any detailing on my truck,
I rarely use more than 4-5 MF's
plus one or two MF applicator pads

I tossed them in a small bucket of D114
until I accumulated enough to do a load.

Is this OK
or is there something different
that I should do?
Click to expand...
IMO:
Your toss 'n' soak-'em-in-some-D114 is OK. :dblthumb2:


Bob
 
I suggest to go ahead with laundry cycle, even for just a few MF towels.
This ensures they get cleaned immediately, and dried immediately.
There is a time and place to be conservative, and a time and place to be liberal in any application with auto detailing.
This would be the time to be liberal, in my view.

My situation is so different than yours.
Any time I clean a vehicle, no matter if it's one stage or multiple stages, I have no less than 50 - 100 towels to wash.

Also:
Maybe use this as an opportunity.
- Add more stages or steps to your process.
- Use more towels.
- Experiment with more products that would necessitate the use of more towels.
Thus, the laundry cycle would have more of a full load.
 
vanev said:
I suggest to go ahead with laundry cycle, even for just a few MF towels.
This ensures they get cleaned immediately, and dried immediately.
There is a time and place to be conservative, and a time and place to be liberal in any application with auto detailing.
This would be the time to be liberal, in my view.

My situation is so different than yours.
Any time I clean a vehicle, no matter if it's one stage or multiple stages, I have no less than 50 - 100 towels to wash.
Click to expand...

Say WHAT?!?! :eek:

Now I thought *I* used a lot of towels... holy moly dude. How in the world do you even find a place to USE 50 towels when detailing a car?

Lemee put it this way...
I'll use more towels when doing a paint correction than any other time. During that process I'll used a dozen or more to wipe compound. Add to that whatever I use to do a few alcohol/Eraser (home made Eraser) wipes to check progress on different panels, although that's likely no more than 3~4 more.
Then during the polishing stage I'll use about 8~10 more, and again whatever I need to do the Eraser wipes. (More of these if doing a coating, as it has to be surgically clean.)

That of course means if you are using a coating pre-cleaner you'll use maybe 6~8~10 more.

For the coating itself it really doesn't take but 6-ish tops.

So if there were 12, then 4, then 10, then 8, then finally 6 for the coating wipe you'll have 40 tops. Doing that is a multi-day process though, sometimes taking from 3 to 5 days!

Actually... if it's a sealant job you don't need to do all the Eraser steps, and about half the amount of LSP towels with a sealant as with a coating. It wouldn't be hard to cut the above number in half if doing a buff and seal. Then if it was an AIO you could get away with a dozen or so and call it a day.

Even at only 12~20 towels however that's plenty enough to make a wash load.:dblthumb2:

I have no problems with a compound towel sitting there for 3~4 days till I 'dirty' the rest. The ones I don't like to sit are sealant and coating towels. If I'm doing a spray wax/sealant (and don't plan on washing them right away)... I'll wet the towels down with a diluted APC solution then spray them with straight hot water in the mud sink and rinse them, then hang them to dry.

This of course is talking about "paint quality" towels.

General duty and interior towels are a totally different situation. Those can be washed and taken care of in a different manner overall than your 'paint' towels. (As in NOT with the paint towels.)

I do agree however that the OP needs to use more towels. :)

FWIW... I have a 'few' towels. :rolleyes:
The gold 360's at the top are but just a few of those, there was 120 sitting around somewhere. Plus... There was a bin of dirty ones not in the photo, another load in the washer, and a good three~four dozen in my car. :)

This shot is pretty old... have added a few since then. ;)
Microfiber_Towel_Cabinet_450x800_.jpg
 
Hi Cardaddy,

DIY here. Soon my plan is:

CG's citrus wash 1: 1 gal strip wash > Iron X > clay > minor correction using M205 > colinite 476

CG to Iron X will be waffle weave MF's how many MF's (roughly) would you use, given this plan of attack?

My current method for cleaning MF's is:

pre soak - All free several hours
Wolfgang he soap hot, dbl rinse.
dry indoor drying rack

Any areas of improvement or errors seen?

Enjoy & respect your posting comments

Thanks
Rico
 
cardaddy said:
Say WHAT?!?! :eek:

Now I thought *I* used a lot of towels... holy moly dude. How in the world do you even find a place to USE 50 towels when detailing a car?

Lemee put it this way...
I'll use more towels when doing a paint correction than any other time. During that process I'll used a dozen or more to wipe compound. Add to that whatever I use to do a few alcohol/Eraser (home made Eraser) wipes to check progress on different panels, although that's likely no more than 3~4 more.
Then during the polishing stage I'll use about 8~10 more, and again whatever I need to do the Eraser wipes. (More of these if doing a coating, as it has to be surgically clean.)

That of course means if you are using a coating pre-cleaner you'll use maybe 6~8~10 more.

For the coating itself it really doesn't take but 6-ish tops.

So if there were 12, then 4, then 10, then 8, then finally 6 for the coating wipe you'll have 40 tops. Doing that is a multi-day process though, sometimes taking from 3 to 5 days!

Actually... if it's a sealant job you don't need to do all the Eraser steps, and about half the amount of LSP towels with a sealant as with a coating. It wouldn't be hard to cut the above number in half if doing a buff and seal. Then if it was an AIO you could get away with a dozen or so and call it a day.

Even at only 12~20 towels however that's plenty enough to make a wash load.:dblthumb2:

I have no problems with a compound towel sitting there for 3~4 days till I 'dirty' the rest. The ones I don't like to sit are sealant and coating towels. If I'm doing a spray wax/sealant (and don't plan on washing them right away)... I'll wet the towels down with a diluted APC solution then spray them with straight hot water in the mud sink and rinse them, then hang them to dry.

This of course is talking about "paint quality" towels.

General duty and interior towels are a totally different situation. Those can be washed and taken care of in a different manner overall than your 'paint' towels. (As in NOT with the paint towels.)

I do agree however that the OP needs to use more towels. :)

FWIW... I have a 'few' towels. :rolleyes:
The gold 360's at the top are but just a few of those, there was 120 sitting around somewhere. Plus... There was a bin of dirty ones not in the photo, another load in the washer, and a good three~four dozen in my car. :)

This shot is pretty old... have added a few since then. ;)
Microfiber_Towel_Cabinet_450x800_.jpg
Click to expand...

Im jelly. Sweet collection you got there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top